Cloud9 upset G2 for first Trinity Series win—even with a player missing

Cloud9 picked up their first win of the ESL Hearthstone Trinity Series, upsetting league leaders G2 Esports—even though they were down a player.

After a narrow loss to CompLexity in week one and dropping to Team Liquid last week, the Cloud9 trio of James “Firebat” Kostesich, Cong “StrifeCro” Shu, and Andrew “TidesofTime” Biessener were in desperate need of a win.

Already underdogs against the undefeated G2 Esports, Cloud9 were dealt an early blow as TidesofTime failed to show up in time for the matches. Blaming oversleeping, he turned up an hour late leaving his teammates to try and pilot the two decks he had built. Tides had responsibility for Shaman and Warlock, arguably the two strongest decks in the game right now.

G2 Esports claimed a 5-3 lead and looked on course to take the match, with just Tides’ Reno Warlock left. Despite some unconventional tech cards, like Leatherclad Hogrider, Cloud9 were able to win three games in a row to hand G2 their first defeat.

That loss guarantees G2 Esports will lose the top spot thanks to their 2-1 score, as the two remaining sides at 2-0—CompLexity and Luminosity—play this evening with one of them guaranteed to reach 3-0.

Alliance also picked up their first win of the tournament, consigning Tempo Storm to another defeat at 6-2. The bulk of the work was done by Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall’s Reno Mage, which picked up five wins all on its own as Tempo Storm continue to try and bring off-meta decks to gain an advantage. This week it was Zoo which took center stage for the first time in months—though Tempo Storm didn’t exactly play it to the best of their ability.

Virtus Pro are the last team still without a win, and will be looking to open their account against Team Liquid later today.